Two historic buildings in downtown Lexington have received a new breath of life, thanks to one of Richmond’s prominent business families.
Ann Parker Gottwald and her husband, Thomas E. “Teddy” Gottwald, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of NewMarket Corp., acquired the historic Alexander-Withrow House and a former inn building along Main Street in Lexington in 2012.
They spent more than a year conducting a complete restoration of the two buildings — they are across the street from each other — and started operating them in late spring as a boutique inn called The Georges. The 18-room inn also has two restaurants.
“Lexington is a really special town for us, with VMI and Washington and Lee (University) there,” Ann Parker Gottwald said. “We have always enjoyed going there.”
Her husband is the third generation of his family to lead Richmond-based NewMarket, a global maker of fuel additives that is the parent company of Ethyl Corp. and Afton Chemical.
He graduated from Virginia Military Institute as did his father, Bruce C. Gottwald, who received VMI’s highest honor in May. Their sons also graduated from VMI — Thomas in 2009 and Ted this past May.
“I would stay there (in Lexington) with my husband’s parents when we were dating and he was going to VMI,” she said. “Two of our boys spent eight years there between the two of them and we would go stay there.”
The Gottwalds bought the two buildings for $830,000 in December 2012. She declined to say how much was spent on restorations, but said they were extensive. The project is eligible for historic tax credits.
“We wanted to restore these buildings,” she said. “We could tell they needed some loving care, and we felt like it would be a great asset to Lexington.”
The historic restoration work was done by Adamson Development of Richmond.
“They effectively saved these buildings. They were pretty darned tired,” said John Adamson, the owner of the company that was the prime contractor on the project.
“All of the buildings’ systems and all of the rooms had lived their useful lives plus some,” he said. “What they did was come in and did an extensive restoration of both buildings.”
Ann Parker Gottwald and her husband are partners in the inn business, but she has taken the lead on the new venture. “He has another job,” she said of him.
“We renamed them The Georges because we wanted to incorporate both Washington and Lee and VMI into the name,” she said.
At Washington and Main streets is the Washington building named for President George Washington. W&L was partly named after the first U.S. president for an endowment he made to the school.
Slightly down Main Street from the Washington building is the Marshall building, which the Gottwalds named for VMI graduate and U.S. Army General George Marshall.
The Washington building was one of only two left standing after a 1796 fire that destroyed much of Lexington, according to information from the Historic Lexington Foundation found on The Georges website.
The Georgian-style building also is known as the Alexander-Withrow House, taking its name from two owners — William Alexander, who built the house in 1789, and the Withrow family, who owned the building from 1875 to 1969.
The Historic Lexington Foundation bought the building from the Withrows in 1969 and oversaw a significant renovation to stabilize the exterior in 1970. It was bought by a couple in 1971 and turned into a country inn.
The Washington building, which is on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places, has five suites on its upper floors.
The oldest section of the Marshall building at 11 N. Main St. was built in 1809. In 1907, the property became the Central Hotel and operated as a hotel and boarding house for nearly 65 years. The Historic Lexington Foundation bought the building in 1971, stabilized it and restored the exterior. It sat empty for another decade, when it reopened as a guest inn.
The Marshall building features 13 guest rooms and suites on its four floors and serves as the reception area for both buildings.
The inn has 18 rooms combined.
“The rooms are really upscale” Ann Parker Gottwald said. “They have heated floors. We have put everything in there that we would like to see whenever we go to a special hotel.”
She worked with a design team that included family members and friends and Richmond decorative painter Sunny Goode. “It was a real team effort and we had a ball working on it,” she said.
Room rates run from about $175 to $350 per night. So far, the inn has drawn customers among parents visiting children at VMI or Washington and Lee, while special events such as weddings also draw bookings.
“We have been fully booked every weekend since the end of August when school started back,” she said.
Operating The Georges has become a family affair, she said. Her sister, Mary Carter Hyman, is the food and beverage director, while her brother, Clarke Hyman, is director of operations.
The inn has two restaurants: Taps in the Marshall building and Haywood’s, a piano bar, in the Washington building.
Taps hasn’t opened yet, except for special events and private parties. The lounge part should open in December.
Ann Parker Gottwald named the piano bar and restaurant Haywood’s for her father, Haywood B. Hyman Sr., who started the Hyman Bros. automobile dealerships with his brother in Richmond in 1946. She used his signature for the restaurant sign.
“We named it for my dad, who always loved to listen to piano players,” she said.
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